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they be made a part of the official record and be given every consideration in connection with future appropriations for this purpose.

Sincerely yours,

Hon. CLARENCE CANNON,

CLARENCE CANNON, Chairman.

WASHINGTON, Mo., September 18, 1951.

House Office Building, Washington, D. C.

DEAR CLARENCE: You will see from the enclosed that the farmers and businessmen whose properties are damaged or destroyed by the Missouri River in Franklin, Gasconade, Osage, Warren, Montgomery, and Callaway Counties are in distress and expect some concrete assistance.

I have written the enclosed letter so you may use it as you deem for the best interest of these people.

Perhaps this information may be of interest and assistance to the subcommittee you have appointed.

I would be pleased to hear from you with _what suggestions you care to make. Thanking you and with personal regards, I beg to remain,

Sincerely yours,

Jos T. DAVIS.

Hon. CLARENCE CANNON,

WASHINGTON, Mo., September 18, 1951.

House Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. CANNON: As president of the Lower Missouri River Flood Control Association, consisting of farmers and businessmen along the Missouri River in Franklin, Gasconade, Osage, Warren, Montgomery, and Callaway Counties, Mo., organized at Hermann, Mo., on September 12, 1951; as president of the Franklin County Flood Control Association, organized by the farmers and businessmen in Franklin County on September 10, 1951; as secretary of the Labadie Bottoms river protection district, and as a farmer owning and farming 500 acres of Missouri River bottom land in the Labadie bottoms, I desire to address you, and through you, members of the appropriate committees of Congress, in behalf of all of the farmers and businessmen whose lands and properties have been and are subject to the overflow and damage by the floods of the Missouri River, of the above-named counties in Missouri.

As a preliminary statement, I attach hereto a copy of a set of resolutions unanimously adopted at the aforesaid meeting held at Hermann, Mo., which resolutions are based upon years of practical experience by each of the farmers and businessmen, and, as a result of the careful study made by each, with a view of determining the cause of these floods in the Missouri River, with a desire of offering suggestions for relief and for the prevention of such floods.

Since the disastrous flood of July, this year, we are now experiencing another flood in the lower Missouri River section. This flood is now covering all of the lands within the levees, especially where the levees were broken as a result of the July flood.

The flood gage at Hermann, Mo., is set at 21 feet. This gage on September 17, showed 25.7 feet, or 4.7 feet above flood stage.

In connection with the enclosed set of resolutions, we call your attention to the fact that beginning in 1935, we, in the lower Missouri River Valley, have now suffered nine major floods in a period of 16 years. Eight of these major floods have occurred in the last 10 years.

As a result of the two floods this year, the farmers have lost the use of their farm lands and have lost all of the income therefrom this year, averaging at least $100 per acre, and practically all of the income therefrom during the year 1952, especially up to the time that the corn will be harvested, the latter part of 1952.

As a result of the floods this year, and especially the flood now occurring, the farmers in our section have been unable to take advantage of the emergency aid offered through the Department of Agriculture, in the matter of assisting these farmers to plant alfalfa and to put some of the land into pasture. Many of these farmers, after the July flood subsided, purchased seed and fertilizer expecting to get into the bottom lands to prepare for alfalfa and pasture. Under the PMA program, the farmers were required to sow alfalfa, pasture, and legumes before

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October 1 of this year. It will be seen that the farmers are unable to take ad-: vantage of this assistance, and the fault is not that of the farmers.

As a result of the frequent floods in recent years, the farmers in the lower Missouri River Valley are low in purchasing power and short of funds with which to make the necessary levee improvements, such as purchasing the necessary rights-of-way for the relocation of levees, even though the United States engineers unertake to restore these levees.

In addition to the matters set forth in the attached set of resolutions, I desire to ask the additional considerations at the hands of Congress and the Administration: (1) That additional time or arrangements be made so as to enable the bottom farmers to take advantage of the assistance in the way of restoring their alfalfa fields and pastures, in these bottom lands.

(2) That further appropriations and consideration be given to the soil conservation, especially for the purpose of assisting in the draining of creeks and drainage ditches in these bottom areas, so as to take care of the flow of water from the hillsides.

(3) That the Federal Reserve be more liberal through its member banks, so as to allow the farmers, as individuals, to borrow the necessary funds for the rehabilitation of their farms and also to be more liberal in the matter of loaning money to levee districts so as to enable the supervisors of these districts to rebuild their levees and defray the necessary expenses, as the districts are limited, by statute, in the assessments which can be made by the supervisors for levee maintenance.

(4) That the Reconstruction Finance Corporation be authorized to provide funds to these levee districts in accordance with the above suggestions.

We regret that we are unable to be present to express ourselves in person before your various committees, but we hope that these facts and suggestions presented to you will be taken and considered in the nature of statements and opinions of the farmers in this lower Missouri River Valley section.

Thanking you for your attention, I beg to remain

Very truly yours,

Jos. T. DAVIS.

The following resolutions were duly presented, discussed, and adopted by delegates elected by farmers and businessmen along the Missouri River from Franklin, Gasconade, Osage, Warren, Montgomery, and Callaway Counties to meet at Hermann, Gasconade County, Mo., to further the interests of farmers and businessmen against floods in the Missouri River Valley:

Resolved, That while, we as farmers and businessmen of Franklin, Gasconade, Osage, Warren, Montgomery, and Callaway Counties believe that there is considerable merit in the so-called Pick-Sloan plan and that advantage should be taken of the studies, surveys, and work already done by the United States Corps of Engineers and other agencies of the Government, so as to avoid delays and duplication of expenditures, still it is the judgment and opinion of the vast majority of the said farmers and businessmen along the Missouri River that said plan should be modified and changed in accordance with the following resolutions; be it further

Resolved, That the matter of flood control should take precedence over navigation on the Missouri River, and that greater consideration be given to flood control than to navigation; be it further

Resolved, That the present long and high dikes installed by the United States engineers to narrow the channel of the river and to retard the flow of the water in order to create a deep channel for navigation, be shortened so as to give greater width in the river and to permit greater flow of water. However, we favor dikes to remain in the river for bank protection; be it further

Resolved, That immediate and greater consideration be given to the lower Missouri River, east of Kansas City, with a view of diverting water or adopting other feasible means of preventing disastrous and frequent floods in the lower Missouri River Valley; be it further

Resolved, That the flood-control plans and work in the Missouri River Basin be separated from plans and work on the Mississippi River and other major streams, so that the study, plans, and work for flood control may be concentrated on the Missouri River and to centralize the work in the Missouri River Basin under one authority or control; be it further

Resolved, That the Federal agencies, Missouri administration officials, and Members of Congress from Missouri, study and act together on a bill now in

Congress to provide reservoirs in the Grand, Osage, and other tributaries along the lower Missouri River to protect the lower Missouri River from floods caused by these tributaries or to determine upon some plan to help this section of the Missouri River without delay; be it further

Resolved, That soil conservation along the uplands in the Missouri River Basin contributes materially to the control of floods, and greater stress should be placed on soil conservation; be it further

Resolved, That the Federal Government, the State government, the Congress, and the United States engineers render immediate assistance in replacing the farmers along the Missouri River to their lands so that they may grow the necessary grain and farm products for our Nation and in that connection restore our levees to such heights and strength as to protect these lands from further ordinary floods while the United States engineers are working on the upper end of the Missouri River; be it further

Resolved, That the Bagnell Dam be controlled and that the Federal Power Commission and other agencies exercise the necessary power to control said Bagnell Dam to further prevent floods out of the Osage River and in the lower Missouri River; be it further

Resolved, That it is the desire and intent of this meeting that our delegates to a meeting to be held in Kansas City shall be free to act in accordance with the better judgment of each delegate, but they shall be guided by the opinions and wishes as expressed in these resolutions in the event such opinions and wishes are in accordance with the opinions of the majority of the delegates attending the meeting to be held at Kansas City, Mo., on or about September 21 and 22, 1951.

Mr. NORRELL. I would like for the record to show that during these hearings, which commenced on September 19, 1951, and which we are this morning concluding, on the 26th day of September, all of the members of the subcommittee have been present all of the time.

I would also like for the record to show that every person that has indicated a desire to be heard before the subcommittee has been heard and that no one has had any limitation of time placed on the testimony that he wanted to give. We have had full and complete hearings, so far as is possible.

I am not advised of any additional witnesses to be heard or who desire to be heard, and that being the situation I am going to close the hearings at this time.

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